The Loyalty of Ittai: A Story of Loyalty, Courage, and Friendship

By Nancy L. Hitt

Ittai must make a life or death decision! Should he take his family to safety? Or should they all follow his friend, King David, through the wilderness to an unknown destination, facing the possibility of death for him and his family? Does he have enough faith in God to choose the harder path? This story of loyalty, courage and friendship is based in part on true events in the Bible.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Jun 14, 2023
• ISBN: 9798385000494

Nancy L. Hitt

Nancy Hitt was raised in a Christian home and accepted Christ as her Savior when she was twelve years old. Through the years God has continued to work in her life, teaching her to walk closer with Him. Nancy is married and has three daughters, three sons-in-law, and eight grandchildren. Her greatest desire is for her life to be used by the Lord, especially in the lives of her family. She began writing in order to pass on the godly heritage she had received to her children and grandchildren. She also found it to be a fun change from the accounting work she normally does. Nancy and her husband currently live in Spring Hill, Florida, and try to visit their family as often as possible.

Book preview

The

Loyalty

of

Ittai

A Story of Loyalty, Courage, and Friendship

Nancy L. Hitt

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Copyright © 2023 Nancy L. Hitt.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

WestBow Press

A Division of Thomas Nelson & Zondervan

1663 Liberty Drive

Bloomington, IN 47403

www.westbowpress.com

844-714-3454

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

All scripture quotations are taken from the King James Version. Public domain.

Interior Art Credit: Kimberly Cohan

Interior Maps Credit: Nancy Hitt

ISBN: 979-8-3850-0048-7 (sc)

ISBN: 979-8-3850-0049-4 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2023911047

WestBow Press rev. date: 06/14/2023

CONTENTS

Acknowledgements

Preface

Chapter 1 The Sword Fight

Chapter 2 The Horrible Champion

Chapter 3 Soldiers at Last!

Chapter 4 The Horrible Challenge

Chapter 5 The Challenge is Answered

Chapter 6 The War Continues

Chapter 7 Giving Aid to the Enemy

Chapter 8 Discouraged

Chapter 9 Answers at Last

Chapter 10 Whosoever Will May Come

Chapter 11 An Awkward Situation

Chapter 12 David Returns to God’s Will

Chapter 13 Choosing the Blessing of God

Chapter 14 The Loyalty of Ittai

Chapter 15 The Faithfulness of God

Epilogue

DEDICATED TO

My amazing husband, Jim Hitt, who has supported me for many years, even when I come up with wild ideas, such as writing a book!

Also, to my three beloved daughters, three sons-in-law, and all my grandchildren. I pray this book will encourage you to always serve the Lord.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Thank you to Pastor Richard Rossiter for encouraging me to complete this book.

PREFACE

God’s word is absolutely amazing. You can read it a thousand times and still see things you never saw before. God shows me new things in scripture continuously. It has caused me to fall in love with the Bible and the God who wrote it more and more as time goes on.

One day as I was reading through the Old Testament I read about a man I had never noticed before. He’s only mentioned in a few verses, but his character was so outstanding that I couldn’t believe I had never noticed him before. The man was Ittai and following is one of the passages where he is mentioned. It’s located in II Samuel 15, during the time when David was fleeing from his rebellious son, Absalom.

18 And all his servants passed on beside him; and all the Cherethites, and all the Pelethites, and all the Gittites, six hundred men which came after him from Gath, passed on before the king.

19 Then said the king to Ittai the Gittite, Wherefore goest thou also with us? return to thy place, and abide with the king: for thou art a stranger, and also an exile.

20 Whereas thou camest but yesterday, should I this day make thee go up and down with us? seeing I go whither I may, return thou, and take back thy brethren: mercy and truth be with thee.

21 And Ittai answered the king, and said, As the LORD liveth, and as my lord the king liveth, surely in what place my lord the king shall be, whether in death or life, even there also will thy servant be.

22 And David said to Ittai, Go and pass over. And Ittai the Gittite passed over, and all his men, and all the little ones that were with him. (King James 1611).

As I read this passage, for seemingly the first time ever, I began to wonder who this man was. Gittites are people from Gath, a city in the land of the Philistines. The Philistines were the enemies of the Jews and had fought wars with them for many years. So, what was Ittai and 600 other men from Gath, along with their families, doing in Jerusalem? If you consider most of the men were probably married and had children, it would be several thousand Gittites dwelling in Jerusalem, serving in King David’s court. What were they doing there? Why had they come? Why did they stay with David, risking their lives and the lives of their families, living in hardship while fleeing with David instead of returning to Gath?

One thing was certain, Ittai was such a faithful man that David made him one of his three captains in II Samuel 18:2. After II Samuel chapter 18, he is never mentioned in the Bible again.

For a number of years I pondered this man. He became my favorite obscure character in the Bible. He is obscure because we know so little about him. As I thought about Ittai and David, I realized their lives probably intersected numerous times. Was Ittai in the battle when David killed Goliath? Maybe. Certainly Ittai had seen Goliath on the streets of Gath before the famous battle since they were both from Gath. David had fled to Gath several times in his attempt to escape King Saul. Had they met during one of those times? Possibly. Since Ittai was a soldier, David and Ittai probably had fought against each other during some of the many battles that occurred between their countries.

Only Ittai and the Lord know the details of his story. But one thing is certain, God worked in Ittai’s life to bring him to a saving knowledge of Him. In II Samuel 15:21, Ittai refers to him as LORD. LORD in all capital letters refers to Him as Yahweh or Jehovah, the one true God and Creator. Ittai was acknowledging his belief in the true God of Israel. Even though we don’t know the exact details of how God brought Ittai into a saving knowledge of Him, we do know that God will work in the lives of people, no matter where they are born. Some people respond and seek after the Lord; others reject Him.

God has worked in my life, orchestrating things around me, to bring me ever closer to Him. I’m sure he did that with Ittai, and that’s why we find him living in Jerusalem, serving King David, the man after God’s own heart.

My prayer for you as you read this book